• Susmita Rajkhowa

The very first aspect of rewriting is to deconstruct the fixity of an existing social order and express the perspective of the marginalised or to address the unexplored. As defined by the Marriam Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary, rewriting means to write something again especially in a different way in order to improve it or to add new twist to it. Adrinne Rich in her essay “When We Dead Awaken: writing as Re-vision” (1971) wrote that revision is “the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction.” According to Andrea Kirchknopf, rewriting has emerged as a new trend starting from the 1960s up to the present day with the publication of two classic works: Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) and John Fowles’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969). These rewritten texts have not simply been interested in retrieving the past, but have instead challenged the ideas and notions existing in the Victorian period. Concepts of self-reflexivity and intertextuality are covered well in each rewritten novel along with its involvement with the contemporary issues. Talking about the Victorian era, society at that time made it impossible for woman to make any advancement. As Gallagher pointed out, “Whatever their social rank, in the eyes of the law women were second-class citizens.” Women were expected to marry, have children and keep a nice household. Even Barbara Welter in “Dimity Conviction: The American Woman in the Nineteenth Century” introduces the notion – ‘cult of true womanhood’ that illustrates the existing situation of woman during that era. “Piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” were thought to be natural to woman. And, the purpose of rewriting the canon is to break this fixity of categories. Also, postmodernism asserts that the idea of universal is problematic. The contemporary writers put emphasis on the differences and so do the postmodern feminists. They also put emphasis on the flaws and quirks that a woman possess. According to them, it is necessary to specify the woman about whom they are talking.

Postmodernism, Deconstruction, Universality, Rewriting, Postmodern feminism, Self-reflexivity, Intertextuality, Submissive identity, Subversion.

"A Postmodern Approach of Rewriting the Canon and its Global Appeal through the novels of Patricia Park and D.M. Thomas.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 7, page no.1-3, July-2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2307901.pdf

"A Postmodern Approach of Rewriting the Canon and its Global Appeal through the novels of Patricia Park and D.M. Thomas.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 7, page no. pp1-3, July-2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2307901.pdf